Grain-door opener.



A. WALLACE.

GRAIN DOOR OPENER.

APPLICATIONHLEDSEPLZ.1915. r 1 ,1 97,164. Intmltedbvp. o, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A. WALLACE.

GRAIN 000E OPENER..

APPLICATION FILED SEPTA 2. |915.

InI'QrIIvdSepI. 5, 1916.

...n.IIIIIIIIII .Y X72 06725071.. mireza Z/'ce UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A'LJRTV WLLLACE, Ci SOUTH. CHlCAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRlN-DOORY OPENER.

pplicaton filed September 2, 1915.

Be it known that l, xmniw NALLACl-t, a citizen of the llnited States, residing at iouth hicago` in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Grainloor Openers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in grain door openers, and has for one object to provide means for quickly and easily opening the grain doors of freight cars and the like.

Another object is to opening such doors them.

Other objects of my invention will appear in the specification.

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l shows a cross section through a freight rar showing my device in elevation. Fig` 2 is a section along the line Q- of Fig. l. Fig. l?, is a detail on an enlarged reale, simwing my device in elevation of a grain door in section with the parts viewed short internal later in operation than in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section along the line, t-l of Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the door contacting portion. Fig. 6 is a section along the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Like parts are indicated by similar letters throughout all the parts.

A is the floor, and A1 the wall of the grain handling house, into which the freight car A? comes riding along the track A3. The freight car which contains grain or other such material, as indicated at A", has its door closed by a so--called grain door A, made up provide means for wlthout destroying of a series of planks horizontally disposed on, edge, extending across the door and nailed or otherwise suitably attached to the inside wall of the car on either side of the door. These planks are normally put in place and nailed or locked in position before the car is filled, and. they making a close snug Contact with the wall of the car, prevent discharge of material from the car. However, when the car is to be unloaded, the pressure of the material on these boards prevents their being withdrawn, because they must be forced back into the car to release the nails which hold them. The ordinary practice is to cut or chop or break out the bottom two or three boards, thus deaf Letters Patent.

` ing out the driven by Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

serial Noj4ssi.

stroying them. The material then runs out beneath the boards until it sinks low enough so that the operator can climb in over, draw out the nails, and remove the other boards one at a time. This is manifestly an exceedingly expensive process, because these doors cost in the neighborhood of fifty cents to one dollar apiece, and about one third of each door is normally destroyed in unloading. In my arrangement l provide means for forcing the doors into the car against the weight of material, thus drawnails. The door is then drawn up on the inside of the car, so as to permit the material to flow out beneath. The forcing end process and withdrawal of the door takes place almost instantaneously, and no breakage takes place.

B, B are pillow blocks on the floor 'of the house. They carry rotatably mounted therein a shaft B1. On this shaft adjacent either end and adjacent the two end pillow blocks B, are sleeves B1,having fiat supporting surfaces B3, upon which are bolted the two T rails-B, B4. These two T rails are arranged side by side, one arranged at each end of the shaft. These rails are bent, as indicated at B5, at a point slightly above their pivot point, and then extend up to rest against the stop rail B, when in the inoperative position. B", B1, are two A-shaped brackets projecting outwardly from the wall A1. They support at their outer end a cross bar B11, upon whi h are mounted two sheaves B, B9, in front of respectively the two T rail beam groups B4, B4. B1 is a reinforcing channel riveted to the bases of the four T railsto hold the two beams in fixed position with respect to one another.

C is a motor mounted on a bracket C1, on the channel B111. I. This motor has a pinion C2 driving a gear C3 on the shaft C1. This shaft is mounted in bearings bracket C1 and channel B1", and carries a pinion C11 in mesh with, the gear C1, which gear in turn is carried by a shaft CE in bearings C9 supported on the channel B1". This shaft is always in operation being the motor, and serves as the counter shaft from which the drive is taken.

D is a miter pinion rigidly connected to a female member D1 clutch member D2, splined on the shaft.

D3 is a clutch control rod to throw this clutch into and out of-operation to rotate or release the miter gear in response to the ro- C5 on the in opposition to a male Y tation of the shaft. This miter pinion D is in mesh with a miter gear D4 shaft D5. The worm D on the shaft is in mesh with the worm wheel D7 on the drum shaft D8. The drum shaft D3 is supported on the rail beams, and carries at either end drums D". Acable D10 is anchored at one end on the drum D9, at the other end on a pin D11 between the rails, the bight passing around the sheave B, so that a rotation of the drums winds up the cables and draws the upper ends of the beams out, rotating,

them about their pivotalpoint.

E is a mitex' pinion floating on the shaft C, having a female clutch member E1 in opposition to a male clutch member E2 splined on the shaft, and controlled by a clutch lever E3. This pinion is in mesh with the gear E4, which drives a worm shaft E5, and by means of a worm E drives a worm wheel E7. This worm wheel is mounted on the hoisting shaft E. It carries at either end the drums E". around which are wound the hoisting cables E7".

F, F. are vertically disposed rails tied together by the cross bars F1 to form a door opening plunger. The links F2, F2 are slidably mounted at one end between the rails B4 and restP against the stops F at their other ends. They are pivoted between the rails F, so as to support the upper end of the door opening plunger pivotally from the main rail beams.

F3 are racks pivoted on the lower ends of the rails F, and in engagement with 4Vthe gears F4 in yokes F5 mounted on the rails t. Dogs F6 lock the gears against rotation, but may be withdrawn when necessary, to permit rotation of the gears by the hand of the operator to move the rack longitudinally. These dogs engage. of course, one of each of a pair of ratchet wheels F7, F7, to lock the gear against movement in either direction. The rails are cut away as indicated at F to permit movement of the rack both longitudinally and rotative.

r, G are pivotally mounted guide shoes mounted on the lower ends of the rails F, having curved car floor contacting surfaces (il. They are pivotal at points slightly above the ends of the rail. and counterbalanced b v means of weights G2, so that they normally hang in the position shown in Fig. 1 projecting forwardly in front of the plunger. but when pressure is brought to bear upon the plunger. they assume the position shown iu Fig. 3 contacting the door at the point (lv-7. The position of the parts is such that the operator by feeding forward the rack until the shoe rests upon the and its point just contacts the door, will know the parts are in the proper position', and will then lock them in such position.

H, H are lifting hooks mounted on caron the worm .the position shown in riages H1, which slide between the rails F, the hooks projecting forwardly in front of the rails a distance such that when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. I, the hook will be just free to fall without contacting the door surface. This hook is adapted to be lifted and controlled by the cables El", which passes over sheaves H2 on the rails F. drum E will raise or lower the lifting hook as the case may be.

It. will be observed that the point of application of the pressure between the rails l* and the rack is above the pivotal point of the rack on the door opening plunger, so that any pressure upon this plunger caused by the forward movement of the upper end of the rail will not tend to lift the plunger, but will force it firmly against and under the door. This pressure or downward component is partially balanced by the fact that the upper link is inclined in the opposite direction, but at the upper end the pressures are much lower, so that there is still aV component left tending to hold the plunger down and prevent its upward withdrawal or forcing by the pressure which forces itin to open the door.

H3 is a hook on the end of a handline H, passing over a pulleyH5 from the which may be used to hold the door in position in coperation with a cleat '7 after the mechanism previously described has opened and raised the door.

H7 is a stop for the plunger, whose function is to limit the upper movement of the plunger and hook, so that the door opening plunger may be raised into the inoperative position shown in dotted lines before the car is brought in.

It will be evident that, while I have shown in my drawings an operative device, still many changes might be made in size, shape, and arrangement of parts, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

he use and operation of my invention are as follows :--Tlie freight car which is to be unloaded is now on the track in the position shown; The cars vary somewhat in width. somewhat in height. and somewhat in width of sill. The Jsliding door is moved back, exposing the grain door which is usually made up of three orfour boards fastened togethenand nailed to the inside of the door jamb. M v apparatus is meanwhile in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 with the heavy rails resting on the support at the top. The operator manipulates the clutch to unwind the cable and lower the door opening foot or plate into Fig. 1. he operator by hand moves the rack in as the case may be to bring the curved pivoted shoe to rest upon the door Sill with the point touching the door.

shaft E8,-

so that a rotation of the then further releases the cable, permitting the door raising hook to drop down so that it also rests on the sill. lVith thel rack locked in position the operator then manipulates the other elnteh to tilt the opening` heavy levers forward from ahove. This brings the door opening shoe into en gagement with the pivoted toot in the posi'- tion shown in Fig. ment brings the whole shoe against the door. and a still further movement presses the door in against the material behind il. thus'drawiug the nails all out evenly and freely without breaking the door or the nail. As soon as the door has been pushed in so that the nails are all clear a position is held. but no further movement takes plaee. .The pressure pn the door at this time without further movement is no greater than it was before` heeause the material will have been displaced and will assume, a position .of rest. The other eluteh is then operated to wind up the housing drum. the hooks which extend beneath the door engaging it and sliding it up along the rails forming the door opening This movement will he continued until the door has been raised a few inches. possibly a foot above the bottom of the ear. The grain or material then rushes out. The hook on the cable shown in Fig. 1 will he positioned as shown. As the grain runs out. the hook will ride down on the top of the grain until it passes through thedoor from below'. lt can then be fastened to the door or ni-ought up and fastened ahout the cable. and the door held in position without the use ot the rigid honderous door opening,machinery. The whole operation takes but a short time, The door is heilig foi-red in almost as soon as the power is applied to my device, thus operating with a minimum of lahor and without damaging the ear doors in any way. The, adjustment by means of the gear and ratehet of the position of the bottom ot the door pressing trame results in making the etleetive length of the link eonneeting the Jframe with the lever at the bottom a variable while the length of the link at the top of the tramel is a constant. Vvlhen the frame is lifted up into the inoperative position. it swings about the pivot of the lower link on the lever. The pivot point of the upper link is free to slide and it slides to rompensate as indieated in dotted liens in Fig. 3. but the pivotal point when in operative position is always below the pivotal point,`

on the frame so that there is never a tendeney to throw the pivot point on the lever up instead of down.

l claim:

1. A grain door opener for railroad ears and the like comprising a pressure frame, means tor adjusting this frame into opposition to the grain door, and means for forc- The further moveing such frame forwardly against the door toiforce the door into the body of the car against the material contained therein.

YQ. A grain door opener for railroad ears and the like comprising a pressure trame, means for adjusting such Vtrame in position adjarent the grain door. and means for forring it forwardly against the door to torre the door into the ef r against the material eontained therein. and meansl roiiperative with surh tori-ing means for raising the dooi` bodily upward after it has been forced bark against theI material in the rar.

3. grain door opener for railroad ears and the like Comprising a lever pivoted adjarent the door, a pressure trame supported on the lever. means for adjusting the position ol' the frame with respeet to the lever and the door so as to bring the pressure, trame into operative relation with the door and means tor rotating the lever to push the frame against the door and thus thrust the door inwardly.

4. .'t grain door opener to." railroad ears and tle like comprising a le\ er pimted adjarent the door. a pressure trame mounted. on the lever and means for adjusting the position. of the frame with respeta to the lever and ear door to bring the frame into operative relation with respvfrt to the door. and means for rotating the lever to bring the frame against the door and then torre the door inwardly. means carried by the trame for. raising the door bodily upwardly along the frame.

o. A door opening meehanism for grain doors and the like. comprising a pressure trame. a pivoted supporting foot on the bottom thereof. a driving member for thrusting the pressure trame into the door and an ad jnstahle eonnertion between it and the pressure frame.

tl. ln a grain door opening mechanism having a power lever and an opening frame pivotally eonneeted thereto by a pair of links. means for adjusting the length ot' one, ot the links. and means for limiting the movement, of the pivotal point of the other link with respert to the. lever.

7. ln a grain door opening merhanisin having a power lever and an opening frame pivotally eonnerted thereto bv a pair of links. means for adjusting thil length oi' one, ot' the links. and means for limiting the movement of the pivotal point of the, other link with respect to the lever. the end ot the, second lilik being free to slide along the lever.

8. A grain door opener comprising a pivoted lever. means for rotating it about its pivot point. a door eontaeting frame mounted thereon. means for adjusting the position of such frame with respert to the door and looking it in position. j

9. A grainloor opener comprising a pi-V- oted lever, means for rotating it about its pivot point, a door contacting frame mounted thereon. means for adjusting the position of stu-h frame with respect to the door and looking it in position, door raising means rarried by sut-h frame.

l0. grain door opener comprising a pivotetl lever. meansI for rotating it about its pivot point. a door contacting frame mounted thereon. means for adjusting the position ot' such frame with respect to the door and lot-king it in position. means for swinging said frame into and out of the operative position.

11. A grain door opener comprising a pivoted lever. means for rotating it about its pivot point. a door rontacting frame mounted thereon. means for adjusting the position of such frame with respect to the door and lockinfr it in position, door raising means carried` by such frame, means for swinging said frame into and out of the operative position.

12. A grain door opener comprising means for forcing a grain door bodily inwardly into the interior of the car against the pressure of the material behind it, and means for then raising the door upwardly in a vertical path.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses this 20th day of August. 1915.

ANDREW lVALLACE.

'itnesses Mixxin M. LINDENAU, CHRISTINA DEANs. 

